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About

Cog is a collective of artists based in Farnham, Surrey that aims to create a durational public intervention or performance in London Waterloo. We hope to open a dialogue with an external artist to achieve this, either agreeing to the parameters that we will perform alone, or to perform with the artist.

In 1995, Marc Augé coined the phrase "non-place" to refer to spaces where concerns of relations and identity are erased; these spaces of transience, such as a corridor or a train station, are not regarded as places. Yet, it is interesting that as soon as an individual decides that they wish to be anchored there, a space is made out of that place. Augé later stated that ‘the urban extends everywhere, but we have lost the city and at the same time we lose sight of ourselves.’

London is notorious for busy, careless commuters trying to get from one place to another. It is our intention to physically define a meditative space by creating a reflective environment that contrasts the freneticism of Waterloo. In doing so, we would be straining our connection with the people, and our bodies’ relationship with what surrounds us, creating a disruption in this kinetic space.

We are very interested in the impact of silence when defining these spaces and how this impacts our ability to connect; often, it can have a louder impact than speech or other verbal interchanges and is an anchor point for this entire project.

Our main challenge is how we will attract attention in a busy station, whilst maintaining our silent performance.